[asterisk-users] Root Password not taking

[Matt Watson]

On Thu, Jan 22, 2009 at 11:32 AM, Max Brooks <max at legatio.com> wrote:

> Jim Dickenson wrote:
> > What I have done in the past to set the password for root is to boot
> > in rescue mode and edit /etc/shadow setting the password to some know
> > value from another system.
> > --
> > Jim Dickenson
> > mailto:dickenson at cfmc.com
> >
> > CfMC
> > http://www.cfmc.com/
> >
> I personally prefer to chroot into the / partition and run passwd.
>
>
Yep, thats pretty much the best way, and more or less one of the only
methods that is going to work regardless of Linux distribution, or other
UNIX variant.

Many distros now, like most of the UNIXs actually still require your root
password when booting single user mode - as they should.  Gaining root
access to a system even with physical access to the machine *should* be more
difficult than simply picking a different grub boot option.  I realize that
is not the case across all distros, but IMO it should be.

For distros that do require a root password when booting single user mode,
your only real options have already been mentioned here...

1) boot from a CD, mount your partitions then:
                       a) manually edit /etc/shadow (Linux only) and change
the field containing the encrypted password with another encrypted password
that you know what the uncrypted version is
                       b) chroot into your mounted partitions and then run
passwd as normal (this should be work almost all UNIXs)

(b) is the more generic and preferred method IMO - it should work just about
everywhere... unless you have total disk encryption or encrypted filesystems
and are unable to mount the partitions... in which case... best of luck to
you.

--
Matt Watson
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